Present
by BoredParanoia
Summary: Perhaps Ralph should have clarified some things for Vanellope... (Post-movie)


Ralph stared at the giant bar of chocolate that was as tall as a nicelander and a good handful sitting in his hands. Vanellope was simply beaming at the gift she brought Ralph. The rest of the guests of Ralph's birthday party who knew about Ralph's disposition of the dark candy could only stand back and watch to see Ralph's reaction.

"Umm…Chocolate. Thanks, Vanellope." Ralph smiled nervously, resisting the urge to grimace at the sight of the dark candy. Vanellope smiled brightly.

"Sure thing, Ralph. I remembered how you said you loved chocolate, so I got you that big old bar." The pint-sized president of Sugar Rush said, pointing to the chocolate.

"Ah… you shouldn't have." 'You really shouldn't have.' Ralph thought to himself as he began to formulate an appropriate time and method to tell Vanellope of his distaste towards chocolate.

"No, I should have. I mean, do you know how many pools of chocolate I personally tasted? Seriously, I was surprised at how many pools of chocolate I found. I mean, I should really make a pool of my own with all that stuff I found, so anyway…"

As Vanellope rambled on, Ralph silently stared at the bar of chocolate that was innocently sitting in his hands. From what Vanellope was saying, she was describing less the creation of a giant bar of chocolate, she was describing a masterpiece that she had crafted from her own taste and a heap load of help. Ralph quickly looked over at Fix-It Felix, hoping that a distraction was coming soon. Taking the signal, Felix peered into the kitchen, but soon turned to Ralph and gave a shrug. Mentally sighing, Ralph concentrated back on Vanellope, who was finishing up her story.

"Heck, I think I even vurped chocolate at one point, and believe me, Ralph, you do not wanna vurp chocolate." Ralph stared at her a bit before coming up with a response.

"Umm… sounds like a lot of work." Ralph offered lamely, before mentally searching for a follow up. "So how about you help me find something to wrap this in, because I think Mary is about ready to serve the cake…"

"Oh, just a little warning, everyone." Mary said as she leaned out the door. "Just give me a few more minutes, the cake still needs icing."

With that, Mary returned to the kitchen, leaving Ralph to stare at a smug Vanellope.

"Well, you heard the woman, Ralph. I'm sure you got plenty of room in that gut of yours. Now let's see you take a big bite of that bad boy!"

Ralph sighed, mentally preparing himself for the sure rough time ahead of him. Raising the bar up to his mouth, he put as little of the corner of the bar between his teeth and was about to bite down. Vanellope was unamused.

"Come on, Ralph. I can see that you got a bigger mouth than that. More!"

Ralph slid the bar a little more into his mouth.

"More!"

1/10 ths.

"MORE!"

1/12 ths.

"You're messing with me now, aren't you?"

Sigh. 1/7 ths. Vanellope framed this scene with her fingers, like a director determining the best angle, and smile.

"Perfect…Now bite, Ralph. Bite that bad boy!"

With a twitch of his powerful jaws, Ralph bite through the chocolate bar and began to chew. However, 30 years of psychological trauma made itself apparent.

'Ugh…still tastes like mud." Ralph commented to himself, his eyes closed as he tried to stand the taste that was running amok in his mouth. Opening his eyes, he saw Vanellope staring at him with an expectant twinkle in her eyes.

"Do you love it?" Vanellope asked, with some of the biggest shiniest eyes he had ever seen. As much as he disliked chocolate, he hated disappointing Vanellope more.

"It's…Great! Fantastic even!" Ralph would wonder for a while how he managed to fake such enthusiasm.

"Really?" Vanellope's voice became an excited squeak.

"Yeah, I mean this is really good stuff. The texture, the flavor. In fact, I need another bite." Forcing the chewed up chocolate down his throat, Ralph forced himself to take another bite. A shiver of disgust rolled down his spine, which he forced himself to disguise as a shiver of pure delight.

"Oh…that's good. That's really good. Sorry, but a bar this good needs to be savored." Ralph said as he wrapped the bar in the paper that it came with. Vanellope, though her enthusiasm was dampened, couldn't help but agree with his logic.

Just then Mary called for cake, and there was not a more beautiful call to his ears.

* * *

It was about 10 minutes to the arcade opening for the day, and both Felix and Ralph were missing. While Felix's location was known, spending time with his "honeybee", Ralph had not appeared out of his home yet.

"Oh dear, this will not do." Mary said as the rest of the Nicelanders got ready for another day of standing at their windows, offering pies to Felix, and throwing Ralph off the roof.

"Alright, I'll go get Felix. Gene, you got Ralph?" Roy asked as he straightened his shirt. Gene drank the last of his orange juice from his martini glass and placed it on the bar upside down.

"Don't worry. I got him."

As Gene hurried to Ralph's house, he began to reflect. It was at least a week since the "incident" as everyone called it. While he liked to think that he wasn't one to hold grudges, he, out of all the Nicelanders, didn't really change his mind about the "villain." To him, just to get a medal, Ralph nearly caused the destruction of a game.

While he didn't understand what exactly happened during that time to cause Felix to be more nicer to wrecker, to endear himself to the "president" of Sugar Rush, he kept his opinions to himself. That honeybee of Felix's looked like she do more than sting him, and that pint-sized friend of Ralph's had a very strong kick. His shin tingled in fear.

Finally, he reached Ralph's door and knocked. There was no answer. Gene hit the door harder. Still there was no answer from the one man wrecking crew. Finally, Gene banged on the door, and shouted.

"Ralph, come on! Arcade opens in ten minutes!"

"Coming." As the door began to swing open, Gene began to tear onto the giant.

"Look, Ralph. I know this is your first party and everything, but you got to – Geez! What happened to you?!"

Gene stopped his tirade when he looked up at Ralph. His eyes had bags under them, as if he stayed up all night. He leaned against the frame of his door, as if he was trouble standing straight. However, the most prominent feature was the smear of chocolate that was around his mouth and on his hands.

"Uhh…" Ralph mumbled as he looked at his hands. "Figured it was kinda stupid to hate chocolate just because it looks like mud. Urp," Ralph burped slightly and covered his mouth, though it looked more like he was trying not to throw up.

"So been trying to get a taste for it." Ralph said as he wiped his mouth on his forearm, only to grimace at the mess he'd caused.

"How's that working out?" Gene asked with genuine curiosity. Ralph only scratched, only to remember and pull his chocolate coated hand out of his hair.

"Umm, pretty good, I guess." Ralph nodded, though his expressions said otherwise. "Look, Gene, tell the others I'll be ready. Okay?"

As soon as Gene nodded, Ralph closed the door, and the nicelander could hear Ralph's footsteps thump through the house.

"Huh."

Just when you think you know a guy…


End file.
